386

ELECTRIC RAILWAY ENGINEERING

bination not long ago of roads of different track gauges and of
cars with and without standard air brake equipment. The late
George Westinghouse did not sound the warning of standard-
ization any too early, therefore, in his paper before the joint
meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and
the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers; held at London
in 1910, when he said:
"For the present it may be a matter of little moment whether
different systems have their contact conductors in the same
position, or whether the character of the current used is the same
or different. As previously stated, in the early days of railroad-
ing, it was of little consequence whether the tracks of the dif-
ferent systems in various parts of the country were alike or un-
like, but later it did make a vital difference and the variation
resulted in financial burdens which even yet lie heavily on some
railways. It is this large view into the future of electrical
service which should be taken by those responsible for electrical
railway development,"